This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 18, 2026 - May 24, 2026

THE Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) is seeking buyers for its wholly-owned unit Boustead Plantations Bhd, and at least three parties are vying for the oil palm plantation firm in a deal that could be valued at between RM2 billion and RM3 billion, sources say. 

Tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary’s privately held Tradewinds Plantation Bhd, SD Guthrie Bhd (KL:SDG) and another privately owned plantation firm are said to be among the suitors.

“Final bids went in [last week],” a source familiar with the matter tells The Edge.

A decision may be made by the end of June. “Any deal would have to be cleared by the LTAT board, the Ministry of Defence and Putrajaya,” the source adds.

LTAT did not respond to an email seeking comment, while SD Guthrie declined to comment. Tradewinds Plantation officials could not immediately be reached.

Sources say LTAT,  which took Boustead Plantations private in 2024, is running the sale process internally. Boustead Plantations was delisted from Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market on Jan 23, 2024.

The planned sale comes almost three years after LTAT and its flagship unit Boustead Holdings Bhd aborted a deal to sell a 33% stake in Boustead Plantations to Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KL:KLK) for RM1.15 billion. At the time, LTAT and Bou­stead Holdings together held a 68% stake in Boustead Plantations.

They called off the closely watched deal in October 2023 after political resistance emerged over concerns that LTAT would lose control of a strategic plantation asset to a non-bumiputera company. KLK’s deposit of about RM229 million had to be returned.

The plan had ultimately been for KLK and LTAT to jointly privatise Boustead Plantations, with LTAT retaining a 35% stake and KLK owning the remaining 65%.

The collapse of the deal forced LTAT to take Boustead Plantations private on its own, forking out RM1.15 billion — or RM1.55 a share — on the exercise, to avoid potential legal complications as it was meant to have undertaken the takeover offer together with KLK.

KLK had edged out competing bids for Boustead Plantations at the time, including from IOI Corp Bhd (KL:IOICORP), the YTL group, the Tradewinds group and the Samling group, as it had offered the highest price, The Edge reported previously.

Although 15 companies in the plantation sector — including SD Guthrie (then known as Sime Darby Plantation Bhd), TH Plantations Bhd (KL:THPLANT) and FGV Holdings Bhd — had been invited to bid for the Boustead Plantations stake then, most had either declined to participate or made too low an offer.

This time around, the companies that are said to be bidding are bumiputera-owned.

The potential sale of Boustead Plantations comes as palm oil prices trend higher, due to the conflict in the Middle East. 

Boustead Plantations operates 42 oil palm plantation estates, comprising 16 in Peninsular Malaysia and 26 in Sabah and Sarawak, according to data in its 2023 annual report. It also owns 10 palm oil mills, of which five are in Sabah and two in Sarawak.

Of its 97,500ha land bank, 74% is used for oil palm agriculture. This is made up of 23,400ha in the peninsula, 38,500ha in Sabah and 10,300ha in Sarawak.

The company registered a profit after tax (PAT) of RM287.46 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2024 (FY2024), up strongly by 705.8% from RM35.67 million the year before, according to CTOS data. This was achieved on the back of a 10.5% improvement in revenue to RM941.01 million, from RM851.69 million previously.

Its profit before tax rose to RM357.77 million from RM70.64 million in FY2023, with PBT margin at a solid 38% compared with 8.3% before.

Meanwhile, Tradewinds Plantation reported a PAT of RM190.57 million in FY2024, up 34.8% from RM141.32 million in the previous year, CTOS data shows. Revenue improved 21.5% to RM2.31 billion, from RM1.9 billion previously. Its PBT rose 78.6% to RM210.49 million, from RM117.82 million.

SD Guthrie, the world’s largest listed palm oil producer by planted acreage, achieved a record net profit of RM2.5 billion in FY2025, up 16% from RM2.16 billion the year before. Revenue improved 6.4% to RM20.90 billion, from RM19.83 billion, driven by a stronger performance in its upstream segment and contributions from its industrial development segment.

In 1QFY2026, net profit fell marginally to RM560 million from RM567 million in the same quarter a year earlier, as weaker earnings from its upstream plantation business offset stronger contributions from other operating segments. Revenue declined 2.6% year on year to RM4.69 billion.

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